


Between Love and Sanity

by phoenixreal



Category: Bleach
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, Autism, Bisexual Character, Bullying, Burlesque, Cabarets, Coming Out, Crossdressing, Drag Queens, Drunk Sex, F/F, F/M, Faux Queens, Frottage, Gang Violence, Gender Identity, Het and Slash, Homosexuality, Light Bondage, M/M, Making Out, Multi, Pansexual Character, Psychological Torture, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rough Sex, Sadism, Sensory Deprivation, Serial Killers, Sex Toys, Sexual Assault, Sexual Content, Sexual Slavery, Sexual Violence, Stalking, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Torture, Transgender, Wall Sex, drag kings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-26
Packaged: 2018-01-25 14:46:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1652474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixreal/pseuds/phoenixreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanity and In Between, Explicit</p><p>AU: Ichigo has recently come out to his family as gay and interested in drag. With his family supporting him, he goes to work at Las Noches as a drag performer with Shinji and his troupe named the Dangai. He loves the new life he's leading, but he doesn't realize he's gained the attention of a pair of serial killers that enjoy torturing their victims for weeks by stalking them and terrifying them before they're kidnapped and violently murdered. Luckily for Ichigo, a bounty hunter is on the case who has been chasing this pair for five years across Europe and Asia, and he's determined that no one else is going to die before he can catch them.</p><p>If you love Sanity and In Between but would love to see some steamy sex scenes and graphic torture, this is what you're looking for.  </p><p>MANY EDITS COMING.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Las Noches

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Sanity and In Between](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1218325) by [phoenixreal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixreal/pseuds/phoenixreal), [SapphireTou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireTou/pseuds/SapphireTou). 



> The first few chapters are nearly exactly like Sanity and In Between, with a few additions, but later chapters get some lovely lemons and graphic descriptions of violence.
> 
> Compared to Sanity and In Between, this is three years later for Ichigo and crew, so he's 21 instead of 18.

                Perhaps Isshin Kurosaki should have known his son Ichigo was different than his schoolmates. Of course, he did know, but he didn’t acknowledge it because it was just his son. He had no desire or designs on making his son conform to his own definition of what he should be. Isshin wasn’t like that. He was an educated man, a doctor as a matter of fact, and he had seen a lot in his time. Besides, he also had a pair of twin daughters, Karin and Yuzu, who were four years younger than their older brother. Isshin was a single dad, his wife having died twelve years before. Masaki had been the center, the very heart of their family, and Isshin couldn’t look at another woman anymore without seeing her face. Thus, he’d resigned himself to a long, lonely life as an old single widower. Until then, though, he had three children he loved more than words could ever express. Still, it had been Ichigo that had surprised him the most.

Looking back, perhaps his girls saw their brother much more clearly than their father because neither of the girls were the least bit surprised. The announcement came almost exactly a month after Ichigo turned twenty-one. It wasn’t that Isshin was upset, of course not, he loved his son beyond all else, and he knew that his mother would be proud of him no matter what he did in his lifetime. He was simply surprised, that was all. Truth be told, he was surprised at himself for not seeing it more than anything. After all, the boy had lived in his house for over twenty years. Shouldn’t he have realized something this important?

                He had to give his boy credit; he had a flair for the dramatic. That should have been a clue. He’d always been so close to his mother as a little boy, clinging to her like some sort of lifeline. When she was killed in a mugging when he was nine, he was destroyed, and spent weeks mourning for her. Eventually, he came out of it for his sisters, always for his sisters. He could see that they were hurting too, so he wanted to help and be a good big brother. He was always a tearful child though. After her death, though, he didn’t cry openly anymore, he only cried when no one was looking. As a father Isshin knew. He caught the tearstained pillowcases in the wash now and then, and more than one morning he saw that Ichigo awoke with puffy eyes that indicated he’d fallen asleep crying.

                Then there were the times he had been helping with the wash and he’d walk by and see him holding one of the Yuzu’s outfits against himself. Of course, it was Yuzu’s outfits; Karin hated anything that looked remotely like it belonged on a girl. He thought at the time he was simply folding, but now, he realized what he was doing. And in twenty years, he brought many girls home. Yet he dated none of them. In fact, his closest friends were Orihime, a beautiful girl who was a little spacy, Arisawa, who he met as a child in martial arts, and Uryuu, his cousin and an aspiring fashion designer. The four spent hours together watching movies and talking about other boys and girls. Perhaps he should have listened to who was speaking about boys, and who was speaking about girls. Because apparently, Arisawa and Orihime were dating each other, and Uryuu was dating a boy named Szayel. And then there was his son.

                He had other friends, of course. A tall Spanish boy named Sado, a couple other boys from his class, Mizuiro and Keigo, and there were a couple other girls that came for study group now and then. Mizuiro and Keigo were constantly talking about girls and everyone teased Mizuiro because he looked so young, and seemed to get dates with all the girls he wanted, while Keigo was constantly falling flat with the girls. But there was still something that told Isshin that they all were quite aware of his son’s preferences. Of course, as a father, it made him feel entirely stupid for not seeing what was in front of him. Masaki would have known; he was certain. She certainly wouldn’t have missed something so enormous as the fact that their only son was definitely not straight, possibly even transgendered, and probably had never been straight.

                It was as normal as most days go in the Kurosaki household when Isshin would realize his blindness. It was a rare day that everyone was off and out of school. Summer break was going on for the girls, now seventeen and in their last year before university, and Ichigo wouldn’t be going back to university for a few more weeks when he’d move to the dorms for his last year before graduation. They had determined to enjoy themselves over the summer since Ichigo would move out soon and head toward his future. And the future was the topic of discussion.

                “So, my wonderful son, any job prospects after you graduate yet?” Isshin asked, smiling at his only son.

                “Um, I dunno, pop,” he said, and Isshin noticed that he was playing with his food more than eating it.

                “Ichigo, eat!” Karin said, popping him on the back of the head from her position at the table beside him.

                He gave his little sister a deathly glare. “Ichigo?” Isshin asked with a sigh and put his own chopsticks down slowly staring at the boy. “What is it?”

                “It’s just, I kinda have something I need to tell you…and…I don’t know what you’ll say,” he said finally, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest nervously.

                Isshin frowned and watched his son. He was avoiding eye contact, his back was stiff and he was covering a tremble in his hands. In that moment he couldn’t have looked more like a child if he had still been one. Isshin gave a sad smiled and saw that little boy with big teary brown eyes staring up at him, his wild orange hair sopping wet from the rain in the hospital room asking why mom didn’t wake up again.

“Son, I love you, no matter what. Tell me, please, what’s going on?” Maybe he didn’t want to go to back to school? Maybe he had a different life in mind that he hadn’t discussed with him before?

                “I’m…it’s just that, I know you expect a lot out of me and I don’t want to disappoint you and I don’t know if you’ll still see me the same way because I need to tell you that I’m actually and always have been gay and I’m getting into cross-dressing because I feel more comfortable dressing as a woman than I do dressing as a guy and I know…”

                Isshin blinked. “Whoa!” he said, stemming the tide of words tumbling after his son’s mouth.

                Ichigo looked up at him, face turning several shades of pink and red. “Sorry.”

                Isshin blinked. Okay, so his only son was gay and wanted to dress as a woman. Dad moment collected. “Son, slow down. I already told you I would love you no matter what you do in life, didn’t I?”

                Ichigo lifted his eyes from his hands which were twisted with each other in his lap. “Yeah, but this is…”

                “Nope, son, this is what you are, and I’ll love you always no matter what, though I admit, I’m surprised…” he said, and glanced at both his daughters who were giving him their patented “you are such an idiot dad” look meaning that they knew already.

                “But surprised doesn’t mean it changes anything, you’re still my son, and your mother would be proud of you too for being yourself and not pretending to be something you’re not,” he said with a sigh. So his image of Ichigo having a wife and kids was dashed but he’d get over it. That was his image, not his son’s image, so he had to remember that. And there were always adoptions, after all…so he would still have grandkids one day to spoil, he was sure. Ichigo loved children, and always had.

                Yuzu clapped. “Yay, we get to dress up Ichi-nii! And I get to go clothes shopping with him!”

                Karin rolled her eyes. “Out of all this, you’re looking forward to clothes shopping with our brother…” she said with a sigh. “Looks like I’m the boy outta this family now!” she said with a grin.

                Ichigo snorted. “Karin, you always were…”

                So Isshin had been surprised. And now he was surprised again, holding an invitation to a club downtown in Karakura Town named Las Noches where his only son was giving his first performance on stage with a local drag troupe called the Dangai. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed or that he thought it was weird, it was just strange since this was the first time he’d see Ichigo dressed completely as a woman. Since he’d told them at lunch three weeks ago, he’d changed his regular attire a bit, his clothes had definitely taken on a more feminine feel, and when he went out, he often wore jewelry and make-up now. But he hadn’t really started wearing skirts or dresses or anything at home yet. He’d gotten his ears pierced and he’d noticed the influx of new clothing, no doubt courtesy of Uryuu’s tailoring skills. And a lot of shoes. Way too many shoes. He honestly didn’t think Masaki had had that many shoes.

                He supposed that if he was going to be dressing as a woman in life, his body type was to his advantage. Ichigo had always been slender rather than strong, built like a swimmer rather than a weight lifter or anything. His hands were long fingered and slender, and his face was softer than most. He had large brown eyes and a set of unusually full lips for boy, and a set of eyelashes that most girls would die for. He definitely had the legs for the occupation of a drag performer, having again, long slender limbs. He’d done a stint in track in high school, and of course, he was a third degree karate black belt, had taken classes in both Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu at various times, and had a good knowledge of Hap-ki-do and Aikido, though no formal training in those, Isshin had taught him those himself. He’d also been in gymnastics until he quit after being teased for being the only boy. He’d always been balanced and graceful, so the first time he’d run down the stairs at home in a pair of six inch stiletto heels to show the girls, he hadn’t been too surprised. Because he had actually run down the stairs, and all Isshin could think was how the hell could he run in those without falling since he’d never really worn them before…

                The phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out. It was his wife’s cousin, Ryuken Ishida, Uryuu’s father.

                “Isshin,” came the always serious voice of the fellow doctor.

                “Ryuken, what can I do for you?” he said. Calls from the stoic fellow doctor were always tense and filled with silences. Isshin had never approved of the way Ryuken had treated his own son, which was perhaps one of the reasons the boy spent so much time at the Kurosaki house. Sometimes he wondered if the kid was actually his because he saw him so much…

                “Uryuu says you’ll be attending Las Noches tonight,” he said.

                Isshin started. He didn’t think Uryuu even participated in the shows, but he could have changed his mind, he supposed. “Um, yes, is Uryuu performing?”

                “No, Uryuu made Ichigo’s outfit and some of the other performers’ outfits as well, so I’m going to view his work with a colleague of mine in design. Sort of scouting him, so to speak. And his current love interest is performing as well,” Ryuken said, still so stiffly, even though he was discussing his son’s future. “Shall I pick you up around six? No reason to go separately. The boys are going earlier of course.”

                “Of course, that would be fine. I forgot to ask if the girls would be allowed to go?” he asked.

                “Yes, as long as you are there. They do have a full bar, but since they are Ichigo’s sisters, I can’t imagine them not allowing it as long as they leave before the later shows begin. It is a cabaret lounge after all. But when the burlesque group goes on, I would imagine they should be home in bed.”

                “Okay, well, see you at six then,” he said, hanging up. He was glad, because the girls were excited to see their brother on stage for the first time…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

_Three Weeks Ago_

“You told him?” Uryuu said with hands clasped in front of him excitedly as they sat in the ice cream shop.

Ichigo nodded, fingers fiddling with the hairs at the base of his neck. He’d stopped getting his hair cut a couple weeks before and it was really a challenge not to relent and just cut it again. “Yeah, I did. Finally, last night. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I felt like I was being fake all the time, you know? Every time I went out I’d look at myself and think that it was someone else looking back. Karin and Yuzu have known forever, I think. Yuzu can’t wait to go clothes shopping… I swear she’s more excited about it than I am.”

“And? How’d he take it?” Uryuu said, leaning forward and pushing his glasses up again. He was remembering his own revelation to his father. It hadn’t gone as well. There had been a lot of swearing and telling him he was too young to know that sort of thing. Of course, Uryuu had been twelve at the time. Uryuu, like his father, was very seriously minded and knew flat out from the time he was eight he didn’t have any interest in girls.

“Well, surprised, but said mom would be proud I wasn’t hiding what I was,” Ichigo said, taking another bite of his sundae, hot fudge with marshmallow cream and drizzles of strawberry sauce.

“Uryuu-kun!” came a sing-song voice from the entrance. Both looked up to see a flamboyantly dressed man with long pink hair coming their way. Uryuu smiled and shook his head with a sigh at the man. He wore tight stone washed blue jeans and a light blue frilled shirt and a pair of black stiletto heeled boots. Everyone glanced up as he came in; he was certainly not hard to notice.

“Oh!” he said as he sat down beside Uryuu and looked at Ichigo. “Is this your cousin you told me about?”

“Yeah, Ichigo, you’ve heard enough about him, here’s Szayel in all his flaming glory. I’ve never seen someone take so much pride in being the stereotypical femme,” he said with a smile at the slightly older boy with the golden eyes and ready grin.

Szayel reached out and took Ichigo’s hand lightly and grinned at him. “Oh my goodness, you are a doll!”

Ichigo blushed to his roots. “Ah, yeah, thanks,” he stammered.

“Uryuu, how have you kept this gem hidden so well? There wasn’t any kissing cousin action I missed was there?” Szayel said with a lifted sculpted brow. If nothing else, Szayel had the perhaps most immaculately manicured nails and waxed brows of anyone Ichigo had ever seen. Even his eyebrows were pink.

Ichigo’s eyes went wide and he shook his head and he looked at Uryuu who was making a disgusted face. “No, Szayel, no way. We’re like brothers,” Uryuu said with a firm headshake.

Szayel sighed. “Ah, well, a boy can hope, kissing cousins are pretty hot…” He looked at them. “Well, so are kissing brothers but that’s another thing.”

“Szayel, you are such a pervert!” Uryuu said.

“And you love it, Uryuu-kun, you’re just as dirty in bed…my little cockslut,” he said, letting go of Ichigo’s hand and sliding one under the table, making Uryuu wince and glare at his boyfriend.

“Ew, no details,” Ichigo said, wincing. “Thank you very much.”

Both the others laughed at the red orangette. “Anyway, so Uryuu says you’re interested in going drag, possibly thinking going transgender in life as well as on the stage. You wanna come down to the club tonight? I’m on stage; we do a show most nights, two on weekends. Tonight we’ve got a big one, though, the burlesque group is performing after us.”

Ichigo nodded, excited to finally be around other people that were similar to himself. “But…I don’t have anything really to wear to a club…” he said, gesturing to the jeans and t-shirt he wore. He didn’t want to admit that he did have some “guy” club clothes, but nothing that he wanted to wear on his first night out in public and out of the closet. He wondered thoughtfully if the reason the phrase out of the closet was used was because gay guys tended to dress really well.

“Sweetheart, you are coming home with us to raid my closet,” Szayel said, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him out the door, leaving Uryuu to catch up. Luckily, both had managed to finish their ice cream before Ichigo was summarily kidnapped by the pink haired vixen.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Szayel lived relatively close to the ice cream shop they’d been in, and before long Ichigo found himself in a lavishly decorated bedroom. Apparently, he liked leopard print because everything in his bedroom had it. The rest of the apartment had been stylishly decorated, though minimalistic. The bedroom, however, was another story. A huge canopied king bed with black curtains around it, a beautiful antique dresser and nightstand with intricate carvings, and an enormous wardrobe were only the beginning of what made the room impressive.

However, it seemed that Szayel’s bedroom was also well equipped for his preference in activities. He had a very extravagant looking chest at the foot of the bed that Ichigo raised an eyebrow at. Szayel gave him a wicked grin and opened it. What was hidden inside set the orange haired man blushing. It was filled with toys of all sorts, of the adult variety.

“Szayel!” Uryuu said, slapping the lid closed. “He doesn’t want to look at that stuff,” he said, blushing a bit himself.

“Baby, come on, he has to know what kind of fun we get up to…” Szayel said and leaned forward to kiss Uryuu’s cheek. “Besides, some kissing cousins action wouldn’t both me.   I’ll share you with your hot cousin.”

Uryuu’s eyes went wide and he shook his head. “Just pick out an outfit, Szayel. There will be no fucking going on between Ichigo and me.”

Szayel giggled and disappeared into his walk-in closet. Ichigo looked at Uryuu, his face still red. “Is he always so…forward?”

Uryuu nodded and sighed. “Too much so.”

“Here, this,” Szayel said, emerging again from the walk in wardrobe with an outfit. “Try this one, sweetie!”

Ichigo blushed but was shoved into the en suite bath and slipped out of his jeans and t-shirt and gaped at the outfit he’d been handed. He debated leaving the whole thing and telling his dad he had changed his mind but no, this is what he’d decided on. He shimmied into the dark denim pants. They were embellished with embroidery down the sides of the legs and there was a subtle sheen to the denim. He realized they were impossible to wear with his boxers on, however, so he removed them and tried again, finally getting into them. He wondered if they were supposed to be this tight…

He picked up the corset style top, obviously tailored for a man to wear, and put it on, and followed it up with the jacket that matched the pants he’d put on. It left the front of his midriff open, but he thought he looked good in it. He smiled because it was incredibly feminine, if not completely his style. He emerged from the bath and saw he was being stared at hard by his cousin and his new friend.

“Holy fuck me sideways, aren’t you a hot little thing,” Szayel muttered, clapping his hands together. “Here, wear these,” he said, handing him a pair of platform heels. They weren’t very high, but added an inch or two, and certainly did amazing things to his ass.

“I am so introducing your sweet little ass to Shinji,” Szayel muttered, turning him around once the outfit was complete and swatting him playfully on the ass as he did so. “If he doesn’t invite you on stage, there is something wrong with him…”

“On stage?” Ichigo asked, his brow crinkling.

“Oh yes, on stage, honey. Uryuu-kun here agrees, I can tell he’s dying to put you in drag. I swear, he looks at a hot little number like you and sees a fucking dress up doll. You would _kill_ honey. Well, we can make that happen. Something as sweet and fucking hot as you has to go on stage. If you aren’t the total fucking femme doll, I don’t know what is… Come on, we’ll get there before they open and you can meet Shinji, Uryuu likes to fret endlessly over the outfits before the big shows like tonight so he’ll want to leave soon anyway.”

Before long, Szayel had disappeared into the closet and emerged again with an outfit in a black bag and grinned. “Let’s go!”

They made their way to the waiting car and Ichigo was beside himself. He was going to meet people that liked to dress like he did, people that didn’t think it was weird. He wouldn’t be the odd one anymore. The thought itself was exciting beyond belief. Most of his friends from school were so very normal. And by normal he meant they fit the established societal norms. He was coming to realize that normal was indeed a thing relative to where one was in their life. He blinked and they were outside a rather plain looking building with an unlit sign at the top that read Las Noches.

He smiled to himself as he got out, stumbling a bit in the heeled shoes. He supposed he should get used to that. Szayel grabbed him by the hand and practically drug him into the club. The inside was simply beautiful; it was the only way to describe it. The stage, of course, took up the majority of the front, replete with rich, velvet curtains of deep red tied back with vibrant gold tassels. The back was lined with black velvet. The stage jutted out in a semi-circle and had steps going down either side and a pathway around it and down the middle of the front area that led all the way to a door on the opposite side. All around the stage there were tables with lush comfortable chairs trimmed in red and black velvet. The tables were gold and ornate pedestal tables with cloths of red and a single red rose in a black vase in the center of each. Around the outside, the tables were pub height, and against the opposite wall there was a large, ornate bar of the same wood the stage was made of. Against the far walls out of sight of the stage were a series of booths against the wall opposite a large screen, no doubt to have the stage show on it as people sat there.

There were no interior windows, but the walls were heavily draped with thick velour and velvet drapes of black, giving the whole place a soft and warm feeling to it. In the center, right above the semi-circular protrusion of the stage, a bright replica of the moon hung from the ceiling. Szayel smiled.

“When the lights go down, there are holes in those black drapes. They flip the lights behind and it looks like the whole room is filled with millions of stars,” he said with a wink. “The moon up there changes its light according to the real moon phase too. It glows softly, and from down here, with the lights out, you would swear you were outside under the real thing.”

“Holy hell, who is this sweet fucking angel?” came a voice from the back.

“Shinji, I don’t think holy, hell and angel belong in the same sentence,” Uryuu said, shifting his glasses on his nose. “But this is my cousin, Ichigo.”

Ichigo turned to see a beautiful man in drag. He had long, perfectly straight blonde hair that cascaded down his back with straight across bangs framing his pale face. He had a wide smile, and wore a generous amount of jewelry. His outfit was relatively simple, a long black pleated skirt and red kitten heels. His blouse was a simple white button down, with a modest chest built underneath. If Ichigo hadn’t known he was going to be meeting Shinji, a man, he would have thought that it was indeed a woman. He was gorgeous, honestly.

Shinji came forward and looked him over and then shook his hand in a decidedly manly grip, in complete opposition to his appearance. “Look at you, son of a bitch, you are hot.”

“Don’t mind Shinji, he’s got a mouth like a sailor,” Szayel said, flicking his pink hair over his shoulder with a huff.

“Ah, screw you, bitch,” he said, grinning. “Just because I’m not prissy like you bunch,” he said, laying a hand on his hip.

“You look prissy enough in that, honey,” Szayel retorted.

Shinji sighed. “Ichigo, see, there’s two types of drag performers around here, you’ve got the divas, like Szayel here, who prefer to dress in women’s clothes the rest of the time too, and then you’ve got the boys like me. I dress like this to perform; but otherwise, I dress in men’s clothes. I see you got attacked by Szayel’s closet…I take it you’re new to this?”

Ichigo nodded. “Yeah, I just came out to my pop last night, and…um…I guess I’m more like Szayel…because I like women’s clothes more…”

Shinji smiled. “Honey, nothing wrong with that! I’m more comfortable dressing in men’s clothes most of the time. If you want to wear a dress every day, you go for it. Hell, decide to go all the way and your bits changed from boys to girls, go ahead, though I think that would be so much less fun… I think I’d miss my cock. Anyway, my point is, you dress how you want and how you feel comfortable. And don’t mind me, I pick on the femmes. You’ll see the same thing with some of the others, the butch girls pick on the lipsticks, and vice versa. Did they tell you what we do here?”

Ichigo nodded. “A bit, you run the drag troupe, um, the…uh…Dangai, right?”

“Yup, that’s us. We have both women and men in the troupe, and we switch roles sometimes, we do singing, lip syncing, dancing, teases, though we aren’t strippers, don’t make that mistake, small skits, whatever we have on line for the night. Think variety show. And then we have the Hainekos, they’re a Burlesque group that goes on after we’re done on the weekends and mid-week. Sometimes we’ll join in with them if we’re feeling particularly frisky. Then we have Kirakaze, our house band, I’m working on having them come in more than once a month right now. We do have a monthly karaoke night too with audience participation, and then there’s amateur night for the drag boys and girls. All in good fun. My god, the more I look at you, the more you need to be on my stage. Are you interested?” Shinji said, spinning him around.

“Um well, I don’t know, I…could try out?” he said, with a soft smile, wobbling a bit at the head rush.

Shinji nodded. “Alright, well, come on back, I think Uryuu wants to check on the clothes for tonight, make sure nothing fell apart…nothing worse than a burlesque star’s pasty falling off mid show.”

Ichigo followed them through a door that led to the behind the stage area again and heard a booming voice. “I told you we need that forward camera on! I’m not losing track of the performers midway through the change up tonight!”

Up ahead, there was what could only be described as an enormous man. He perhaps stood nearly six foot eight or nine in height, and was wearing a black T-shirt with white on the back that read “SECURITY”. He had spiked black hair and when he turned, he had an eye patch on his right eye. He looked very imposing. Ichigo started as he set eyes on him.

“New pretty boy?” he said throatily.

“Maybe, he’s going to try out for us, Ichi, this is Kenny, Kenpachi Zaraki, our head of security. Looks like he’s having camera issues again,” Shinji said. Ichigo stepped up and shook the man’s mammoth hand firmly.

He looked him over. “This one’s gay, ain’t he? Great, and he’s another damned diva,” he muttered, turning back. Shinji snickered. Ichigo looked confused.

“Not all our drag performers are strictly gay, Ichi. Some of them are bi, pan, even have one that’s engaged to a gal to be married soon. He still performs and wears women’s clothes on a daily basis, but he prefers women,” he said with a smile. “You’re going to find all kinds of people here tonight. We’ve got about every orientation of sex and gender expression running round here that you can imagine!”

Ichigo nodded. “I’m just overwhelmed…I always felt like such a freak because I wanted to wear my sisters’ clothes…”

Szayel draped an arm around his back. “Honey, you will so fit in around here, don’t you worry that pretty orange head. Hrm.”

Szayel suddenly reached out and grabbed Ichigo’s pants by the button and yanked, pulling them open enough to look down the front. “I’ll be damned, your hair is that color naturally, the curtains match the drapes!”

Ichigo wasn’t sure what to do; he stared down his pants at his own pubic area and then flushed deep red. Szayel giggled and let go of his pants. Uryuu, meanwhile, had buried his head into his hands with a groan. Szayel grinned and shrugged. “What? I was curious. I mean, I dye mine…”

Shinji was laughing heartily beside him and Kenny was sighing. “I swear, tact, man, tact,” muttered Uryuu weakly through his hands.

“Shinji, there you are!” came a voice as a short and demure man with vivid green eyes came walking down the hall toward them with his hands in his suit jacket’s pockets.

“Hey, what’s up, Ulqie?” Shinji said with a nod.

“Newbie?” he said, glancing at Ichigo.

Shinji nodded. “Maybe. He’s Uryuu’s cousin.”

“Oh, nice to meet you, then, Ulquiorra Cifer. I manage the Burlesque troupe, the Hainekos. I’m not always around, but I do drop in nights the group performs,” he said extending a hand.

Ichigo shook with him and smiled. He was an attractive man, straight black hair, serious face, almost white skinned, and quite petite, but somehow in the business suit he was imposing at the same time.   “Good to meet you.”

Shinji nodded. “So what’s going on?”

“I just wanted to check in on the times. When will my group be going on tonight?” he asked with a nod.

Shinji pulled a folded paper from his skirt’s pocket. “Um, let’s see, we hit the stage at six, we’ve got a three hour show, so any time after nine that you are here and ready.”

The raven haired man nodded. “Awesome.   Ten sound good? Two hours show for us. A couple of the girls are wanting to go pick up dinner before we hit the stage, so we’ll be here right after. See you then, Shinji.”

He turned and left and Ichigo wondered at how normal all this felt. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Uryuu looking at him. “Okay, Ichi?” he asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, it just feels weird, I mean, to feel like I’m a part of the place and not just standing outside looking in, you know?”

Shinji smiled at him. “Come on, I’ll show you the clothes area. It is simply stunning, and Uryuu does some fantastic work.”

Shinji led him to the back and showed off closets and closets of amazing clothes in about every size imaginable. Ichigo practically drooled at the sight. He’d never seen so many things that he would love to wear. Shinji elbowed Uryuu in the side.

“You weren’t kidding, boy’s a natural diva. He’s got the grace and you said this is the first time he’s had on heels?” Shinji said, watching as Ichigo moved around the area looking at the various outfits. Even with two inch heels, he moved naturally.

“First time, we gave him two inch heels to start with, and as you can see, he’s got amazing legs and…assets,” Uryuu said, rolling his eyes. “He’s practically a twink. He’s never had a stitch of chest hair, and I don’t think he’s got any on his legs either, lucky bastard. And he’s got the cinched waist that will suit corseting for the stage well. Thirty minutes with make-up, a good set of falsies, and he’ll turn into one hell of a queen…”

Shinji nodded, watching how he moved. “Does he dance?”

“No, but he’s done martial arts since he was five years old. He’s got a black belt in something, I forget what it is, Karate or Tae Kwon Do or something, and that’s not counting what his dad has taught him on the side. He’s flexible as hell too. He was in gymnastics when he was younger, but he got teased when he was the last boy in the class, so he quit,” Uryuu said.

Shinji gave him an appraising look. “We’ve got one acrobat already; man having another that could pull those moves would be amazing…”

“Hey Ichi!” Uryuu yelled out suddenly.

Ichigo looked back. “Can you still do the splits?”

Ichigo snorted. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be able to do it? I know I’m not in gymnastics anymore, but we do that sort of thing at the dojo too.”

“Wanna show off a bit?” Uryuu said, crossing his arms. Szayel arched a brow.

“Uryuu, these pants are so tight that I would rip them if I tried splits right now,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

Shinji clapped suddenly and grinned. “Oh, wait, here,” he said, rummaging through a rack for a second and shoving a plastic coated bag at him. “Put this on.”

Ichigo nodded and disappeared into the change room and emerged plucking at the outfit. It was a leotard, a female one with room for boobs or falsies, and had a skirt attached to it. It was bright green. He grimaced.

“This…is hideous,” Ichigo said, looking up at them.

“Honey, no one here is looking at the leotard,” Szayel said.

Ichigo frowned. “What?”

“You have the fuckin’ legs of a goddess, boyo,” Shinji said. “Damn. Women would want those legs. Now, shake that gay ass and show me what you’re capable of.”

Ichigo shrugged. “Um, okay, splits? I gotta stretch first.”

He sat down and spent some time stretching out his legs and then stood up and slipped down to the floor in a right split easily. Shinji nodded. “Can you do a straddle split?”

Ichigo nodded and complied, taking a minute to settle down into it. He winced a bit. “Damn, been a while since I’ve done this…”

“Well, that’s damn impressive,” Shinji said. “What else you got?”

Ichigo stood easily. “Um, well, I know a lot of gymnastics and all the martial arts stuff…and I know a little bit of dance, just from taking my sister to dance classes.”

Shinji nodded and shoved another plastic bag at him. “Try this on.”

Ichigo disappeared again and this time emerged with a frown as he pulled at the leather miniskirt and the mid-drift baring cut off t-shirt with a stylized skull on the front. He’d put on the black and white striped stockings that went up under the skirt with the garter belt. There was a tight panty in it that ensured good coverage of his male bits. It felt weird, but he’d done his research about what to do with that bit of biology while in drag.

Shinji was grinning. “Stunning, here, wear these,” he said, shoving a set of heels at him. They were three inches, so not much more than the others, so he slipped into them and stood and glanced at them. “Not too bad. You’ve got the moves, got the look, you interested in playing on stage this weekend? We do an amateur night on Friday before the main show starts. So you’d have to be here at say, five o’clock, and go out, maybe do a dance, something, about six or seven.”

Ichigo nodded with a grin. At first he was wondering if he was going to go for it…but then the more he thought the more he liked the idea. Shinji gave him a wide smile and looked at Szayel and Uryuu who were both grinning ear to ear. Shinji never passed up a hot thing like him, and definitely with that naturally bright orange hair, he was irritable. Quite a ripe little strawberry, he thought as he grinned. He knew more than one person that would make a pass at a hot little thing like him. He just screamed bottom with the way he moved, and practically had “fuck me” written across his ass. Shinji shook his head. Nope, no fucking the talent, he’d already had that one. He was in a somewhat relationship…thing right now. Granted, that fell apart, he’d be hard pressed not to make a move on that…


	2. Targeted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very few differences in this from Sanity and In between. A few dialogue changes, and Szayel's a bit raunchier and more perverted.

Uryuu finished checking the clothes over and then led the now drag dressed Ichigo out of the back and into the main area. He shook his head. Ichigo grinned.

“What?” he asked.

“I…boy. Oh, I guess I should tell that there are some people you know…” Uryuu said but was interrupted by a familiar voice behind them.

“Is that you, Ichigo?”

Ichigo turned around to find Orihime and Arisawa behind him. He blinked and blushed immediately. He hadn’t seen them in a year at least… “Ah, hi.”

“Oh my god,” Arisawa said and stared. “You look fuckin’ amazing…I didn’t know you’d be here, Uryuu, why didn’t you tell me?”

Uryuu shrugged. “Last minute. He finally came out to his dad last night and we ran into Szayel and so here we are. Shinji got hold of him…and well, this is the result. You on tonight?”

“Wait, you’re in Shinji’s group?” Ichigo said, frowning. “Wait, when did this happen?”

Arisawa sighed. “Well, couple months ago, I met Szayel for the first time, right after my classes got done for the summer. Szayel told me about the troupe and said they had some openings for some girls if I was interested. I had no idea, but I tried a few things, and now I dress in drag and take the stage as one of the drag kings in the show. I think I make a damn good man, not that I don’t dress like one the rest of the time…” she said with an eye roll. “Just a bit more exaggerated for the stage. Sorta like the queens.”

Ichigo nodded slowly. “Yeah, I can see that. Well, I’m letting Shinji talk me into taking the stage so…I’m going on Friday night to see if I like it or not. I don’t know if I’ll like being on display...”

Both girls grinned at each other. “About time you figured yourself out, you’ve been gay since we knew you in middle school,” Arisawa said and headed back to get ready.

Orihime stayed with Uryuu and Ichigo as they found a seat at one of the tables. They talked a bit about how summer had gone, their dynamic much the same even if the setting was vastly different than what they were used to, but then they weren’t hiding out in Ichigo’s bedroom. It had taken Orihime’s older brother more than a little time to get used to the fact she was a lesbian, and though he cared a great deal for her, he tried at first to “fix” her. Instead of dealing with her brother’s attempts to convince her that her interest in girls and disinterest in boys was “just a phase” she spent a lot of time at Ichigo’s, and her brother decided that she was dating him. They didn’t really lie to her brother, they just didn’t tell him that not only was Orihime not straight, neither was Ichigo. It had taken a lot of time, but eventually, he came to accept that his sister wasn’t going to find a nice man to marry and have a bunch of kids with.

“Uryuu, you skanky little cock whore, I thought you were dating Szayel?” came a deep voice from behind them.

Ichigo turned and was staring at a tall red-headed man with thick tattoos covering his face and arms in a sort of tribal looking pattern. He wore a bandana tied around his forehead and had beautiful deep cherry chocolate eyes, and to be honest, he was gorgeous. Ichigo blinked at the redhead a couple times. Uryuu sighed.

“Renji, this is my _cousin_ , Ichigo, practically my brother,” he said. “Ichigo, this red headed perv is Renji Abarai; he’s the second in command of the security around here. In other words, anything goes wrong, we blame him.”

Renji flopped down in the seat beside Ichigo and looked him over. “Damn. You get recruited yet? Because dude, you are smokin’.”

Ichigo put his head on the table with a thump.   All three at the table laughed. “See, Ichigo, even the straight ones think you’re hot,” Uryuu said with a sigh.

Renji snorted. “Hey, call them like I see them. I’m comfortable enough in my manhood, thanks, to admit when a man in in a skirt is hot. And this boy is hot. Too bad ya got a dick and I’m attached already.”

“Maybe we could change that, sugar,” came Szayel’s voice and Renji jumped.

“Szayel, get yer hand outta m’pants, man, go fondle yer boyfriend,” Renji said rolling his eyes and removing Szayel’s wandering hand from his crotch.

Szayel sat down with a pout in the chair between Uryuu and Orihime. Ichigo blinked and took in the change. He wore a long and elegant looking dress with silver sequins and his bright hair was done up in a stylish updo. The dress was sleeveless with a halter style strap at the top, and he was wearing a quite large chest piece. Szayel crossed his legs demurely and sighed, sipping from Uryuu’s drink daintily.

“He never wants to play. I keep telling him once he gets fucked proper, he’ll never want to go back to his girlfriend again, either that or he’ll want her to peg him,” Szayel said, fluttering his long fake eyelashes at Renji who snickered and stood up slowly.

“Dude, you grow a pussy, come talk to me, okay?” Renji said and waved at them as he pulled off the red button down shirt he was wearing over his black security shirt. Ichigo couldn’t help watching his muscles work under the tight fabric. He was definitely hot.

“Such a tasty one,” Szayel muttered, patting at his lips carefully with the napkin to avoid messing up the lipstick. “But that’s okay. Uryuu here is enough to keep me sated. Unless Ichi-Baby here wants to play with me, too. Trust me, honey, experience is everything, and I’ve got in spades.”

Ichigo grinned and sighed, completely comfortable for the first time in a very long time, despite Szayel’s continued come ons. He’d actually gotten used to it already. Everyone here was accepting, open, and honest, not only with him but with each other. The straight guys didn’t mind the gay ones, the gay ones picked on the straight ones. He had a feeling the girls were the same.

“Wow, who…oh, sorry, you’re a guy,” came a female voice behind them as someone draped themselves around Ichigo’s neck and squeezed his front where boobs should have been. The place was starting to fill up with the performers and their family and friends before the public was let in. He smiled at a pretty woman with green hair as she stepped back scratching her head. She had a low cut shirt with large breasts that seemed to pop out of it. She held out a hand.

“Mashiro, I work the bar. I also hit on all the hot chicks that come in here; and you just about pass for one. You new?” she said with a grin.

Ichigo blushed again. “Ah, yeah, tonight’s my first night in here, and well, like this…”

She arched a brow and glanced at Uryuu. “This is his first time in drag? Damn.”

“Mashiro-chan!” came a sleepy voice from nearby.

“What is it, Starrk?” she said, turning as a tall brunette man with sleepy eyes came wandering over. “I was just meeting the newbie.”

Starrk smiled and glanced at him. “Coyote Starrk,” he said. “I run the bar, and can mostly be found behind it.   But now and then, I come out and chat up the boys and girls I like.” He added the last with a wink at Ichigo. “Hrm, muy bonito, definitely like what I see here.”

Ichigo blushed then frowned. “Starrk? Hey, do you have a sister named Lillinette?”

The larger man nodded. “That’s my _hermanita._ You know her?”

Ichigo shook his head. “No but my sisters go to school with her. Yuzu and Karin Kurosaki.”

The man looked up and tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Yes, the twins that don’t look like twins,” he said. “I think I’ve seen then before somewhere, maybe on a trip or something. Small world, mi amor.”

“Quite a small one,” Ichigo said with a smile at him and the green haired bar tender. “I’m Ichigo, by the way. Uryuu is my cousin, and yes, I’ve already met Shinji, and he’s got me coming on stage this weekend,” he said with a sigh.

Both Mashiro and Starrk laughed out loud at that. “I think he’s been asked a few times,” Starrk said. “Now, come on, mija, we need to go inventory the Vodka, I’m afraid we are low, and need to send someone to grab a few bottles for the night! I do not wish to argue with someone who has desperate need of their screwdriver!”

With that the two bartenders wandered away. Ichigo shook his head. “I’m never going to remember all these people…”

The lights suddenly dropped and Ichigo looked around. Szayel bid them farewell and ran back stage. Uryuu and Ichigo settled in to watch the show. It was a fun show, Ichigo realized. He only recognized Arisawa and Szayel so far, and Shinji did the announcing, but the rest he didn’t know yet.

Szayel did an amazing job lip syncing to a slow song that Ichigo was unfamiliar with. The man had incredible grace, and just as he thought it would stay so pretty, Szayel ripped the outer skirt off to cat calls in the audience and went into a rap song about sex. Ichigo saw Uryuu shake his head. Ichigo imagined that Szayel must be a handful…. There were a couple of skits, one funny one where one of the drag queens was pining away for a man, and Arisawa came and wooed “her”. The audience loved it. Then Shinji announced there would be an hour break before the Burlesque group went on.

Ichigo smiled and nodded to Uryuu. “I’m going to get a drink, you want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good, Szayel will be back soon enough, I’m sure. But you go ahead,” Uryuu said with a grin. He was quite happy to see that Ichigo was enjoying himself so freely. It was a nice change from the dour cousin that had been moping around lately. After graduation, he seemed to have retreated more into himself, and honestly become quite morose. Uryuu realized now it had been a simple matter of finding himself. Well, it wasn’t really a simple matter at all.

Ichigo trotted over to the bar and asked for a coke. Mashiro nodded and went to grab it and then Ichigo got his first taste of some of the less than attractive points of dressing as a female. And that was the fact someone had put a hand on his ass and was squeezing it as he was leaning over the bar. Ichigo just looked over his shoulder and saw what was obviously a half drunk man leering at him.

“Dude, hand, off, now,” he said, the previously playful note to his voice completely gone.

“Ah, honey, come on, aren’t ya lonely? Ya ain’t wit no one…” he slurred. “I’m sure that pretty little boy pussy of yours would enjoy me…”

Mashiro frowned as she put down his drink, her eye twitching at the man. Ichigo cocked a brow at him. “Unless you want me to break that hand, get it off my ass,” Ichigo reiterated, picking up his drink carefully and turned, pulling away from his hand since he was obviously not going to move it on his own.

The guy’s hand wandered away and he held it up before him. “Sorry, baby, I figured you was advertising with that hot little ass of yours…”

Ichigo rolled his eyes and went back to the table. “Ugh! First night in a skirt and I’ve already got someone pawing my ass!” he said as he flopped back into his seat.

Uryuu snickered. “Well, you know, happens. As long as they back off, that’s what matters!”

Ichigo rolled his eyes. “You are too amused by this, Ishida,” Ichigo said with a snort.

“Of course he is,” came Arisawa’s voice as she pulled a chair up beside him, still in her biker outfit from the show she’d just come from doing a short while ago. “You are fuckin’ adorable all the time, and now you’re in a skirt. What do you expect? You got that tight, hot ass and my guess is you’ve set more than one cock ta twitching tonight. Skirts like that one sorta accent that fact, plus, easy access!” she said with a snicker, and sipped from a mixed drink in front of her. “Not like you couldn’t break half of the assholes in the place in two if you wanted to, so whatcha worried about?” she asked as she peeled off the fake goatee she was wearing.

They sat and talked for a bit longer and Ichigo excused himself to the restroom. He was washing his hands when he sensed someone behind him. He turned to see a familiar face standing right behind him. It was the guy that had been groping his ass at the bar.

“Man, the hell?” Ichigo asked, frowning at him with a deep sigh. Some guys did not know when to give up.

He was obviously more drunk now than before as he stumbled forward and pinned Ichigo against the sink and breathed a noxious breath onto him. “Come on, you know you came in here lookin’,” he said. “I know a boy lookin’ to cottage when I see ‘im, baby.”

“Dude, you’ve got about five seconds before I rearrange your face, because I am most definitely not your baby,” Ichigo said, his voice dipping into the lower range and losing all trace of amusement again.

“But yer a feckin’ twink bitch, whatcha gonna do? Draw on me wit lipsticks?” he said, grinning sloppily and sliding both hands under his skirt, one slipping between his legs and the other under his ass to hold him still.

Ichigo growled and closed his eyes for a second before he really hurt the guy. True, the guy was perhaps six four, and probably weighed a good two fifty. But size didn’t matter. “I’m gonna tell you once more, get back.”

The guy leaned forward and squeezed his ass hard this time making Ichigo wince at the sharpness of the sudden pain it sparked. His fingers were fumbling under the edge of the panty trying to get to his completely uninterested cock. “Nah, I think yer gonna stay here wit me til I’m done wit ya…”

Ichigo sighed and with two motions hand the guy facedown on the floor, sitting on the asshole’s back with both hands locked together behind him in his left. Ichigo didn’t have very large hands at all, but his fingers were long, slender, and dexterous, making it a simple task to lock down the clumsy man’s wrists. He frowned as the man started blubbering obscenities into the thankfully quite clean tile of the bathroom. What the hell was he going do with a drunk? He was going to get violent if he let him up, and he didn’t really want to end up getting arrested for assault his first night in the club he hoped to make a part of his life. The door opened just then and Ichigo looked back to see Renji staring at him.

“He’s drunk, so you might want to send him out. He has an unnatural attraction to my ass and was trying to put his hands where they don’t belong, and I’m afraid he’s going to get hurt…” Ichigo said and stood up, letting him go to groan on the floor. As expected, he started thrashing and cussing loudly about “stupid freak twinks” and “bitches that should know their place”. Ichigo shook his head and shrugged and left Renji to do his thing and went back to the table and flopped down.

“Ichigo, why are your knuckles bloody?” asked Uryuu. Ichigo glanced down and realized he must have busted them up on the tile or the sink when he took the horny bastard down. He wiped them with his napkin and looked over as a cussing man was drug out by Renji and Kenpachi.

“Fuckin’ twink was coming onta me, I tell ya!” he was screaming and Ichigo rolled his eyes and huffed a sigh. He really didn’t like the term twink. He honestly didn’t like labels at all.

“Really?” Arisawa said, giving him an evil smirk. “Already getting people tossed out on their ears first night? My, my, what a little cock tease you’re turning out to be.”

Ichigo grinned. “He should have damn well kept his hands off my ass.”

They laughed a moment and then the lights dimmed again. “Oh, hush, the Hainekos are going on!”

Ichigo smiled. “I’ve never seen a Burlesque show,” he said quietly as the group went on stage.

He was utterly fascinated by the show because it was so different than stripping. They did strip teases, but it wasn’t like a strip show at all. Tonight, they were doing a show based around fairy tales. As the night progressed, they performed skits to Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White. Ichigo marveled at the sheer size of the lead’s breasts, her name was Matsumoto he thought. He shook his head as he wondered how she stayed upright, especially when she was running around in pasties and jumping about like that.

By the time midnight rolled around, Ichigo was exhausted and met several other people that he definitely couldn’t remember afterward. Then he headed home and fell into bed. All in all, his first “out” day had turned out pretty well…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

“You’re sure about that?” the man with baby blue hair said into the phone. “The body was found two weeks ago, and that puts them right in line for…” he said, looking at the map on the wall. He’d put a pin into an area in eastern China. And now he was measuring and he frowned deeply. “Karakura town? Fuck me sideways and call me a whore, that’s where my sister lives…” he muttered, rubbing his hand over his head. “Alright. We’re leaving tonight, thanks for the tip, I owe you big time, sugar.”

He hung the phone up and slipped it back in his pocket and sighed. “Yo, boss, got a bite for us?” asked a man with black and red hair as he came into the sparse hotel room.

“Yeah, it’s the sons of bitches we’ve been trailing across fuckin’ Europe. Look here,” he said, pointing to the map of Europe and Asia on the wall where he’d pinned a couple places. “Last body turned up here. They never strike within fifty miles of their last spot. They’ve had three in the area they’ve worked here, and I’m guessing they’re moving on now. Karakura Town is the only place with a high enough population to seem even somewhat attractive in that fifty mile radius. We know they can’t go long before their games start. We’ve got to get in on one of the vics before they disappear, Edrad.”

Edrad sat down on one of the twin beds with a sigh. “Yeah, because once they disappear, they’re fuckin’ dead, I mean, fucking Grimmjow Jagerjaquez can’t even find their damn asses, and shit, you can track a fish through a river upstream…”

Grimmjow nodded. The praise wasn’t inaccurate. In fact, it was very accurate. Grimmjow was known as the go to man for tracking people. “Yeah. Fuck, man, Karakura is where my sister lives with that kid she takes care of. I guess we can crash at her place; just don’t fuckin’ mess with shit. She’ll beat the living crap out of you, then me.”

Edrad snickered. “No problem man. We bringing in Shawlong and Di Roy?”

Grimmjow stared at the map for a while longer. “Yeah, better. All hands on deck for this shit. Fuckin’ bounty is enough we could have goddamned eight people on it, and still be rich as fuck by the end.”

There was a long silence between the two men. They’d worked together long enough that words were really not that necessary. Edrad, as well as their other partners Shawlong and Di Roy, knew all too well that Grimmjow was obsessed with this case. And it had nothing to do with the money. This was the one he couldn’t catch, the one that kept getting away, and it was driving the man crazy. The suave, fast talking man was able to track down and bring in the worst of the worst, but he had yet to be able to bring in what was perhaps the most sadistic, perverse, and ruthless serial killers that any of them had ever seen. But as Edrad watched the tension mount in his shoulders, he knew there was more than even that. Somehow, every time they got on their trail again, it felt more and more personal.

As near as Grimmjow could tell, it began simple. A little girl that killed her pets, and turned out was a true psychopath, able to even fool the psychiatrists into releasing her, and a little pampered boy with a superiority complex that loved to inflict pain on lesser beings had found each other. And then, together, they moved across Europe and Asia leaving a trail of mutilated bodies. But their game wasn’t simply murder; that was the bad part. First they tortured their victims and broke them down from afar, stalking and manipulating and even if the police were involved from that point, they could not be found or traced. And then, one day, their victim would disappear, and a week or so later, they’d find a body that was so mutilated that it was mostly unrecognizable. Except of course for the photo album that would show up on the family’s doorstep depicting the torture the victim had gone through.

The media had dubbed them the most sadistic killers in the last century. Grimmjow normally thought that the media exaggerated. After meeting the families of several victims and seeing what “presents” they had left for the grieving friends and family, Grimmjow actually thought the media was understating it. They’d become known as The Album Murderers because of the photo albums they left behind. Again, Grimmjow didn’t like the name, but he guessed calling them what they really were was a bit too gruesome even for the most hardened cops. So they had a simple name. But the mere mention of the Album Murders made every cop in the whole of Eurasia wince. And now, out to Japan. They had so far stayed continental to the Europe and Asia, but now it seemed they were going to torment the island country…

“Well, Edrad, have the guys meet us at the airport in Karakura. I’ll call my sister and see that she’s got the guest house made up. We are going to catch these fuckers this time…” he said, flopping back on the bed.

He didn’t let Edrad see that his eyes were starting to well with tears as memories began to surface in his mind of dark hair and glittering eyes paired with infectious laughter outside Bernau, Germany. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat along with those memories and fell asleep.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

_Today_

"Ichigo, slow down!" Yuzu yelled as Ichigo moved down the sidewalk toward the store he'd seen advertised at the club.

He turned back and huffed a sigh. "Hurry up, you're the one that wanted to go shopping, remember? I have to be at the club earlier than usual because Uryuu has last minute work to do on me and a couple others!"

Yuzu shook her head as she rushed to catch up with her brother. She was still amazed by the changes in a few short weeks of being involved with the club he'd been performing at. Today was Ichigo's big day because Yuzu, Karin and their father were all going to the performance. Ichigo had fit right in, and had come to a routine in the last few weeks. He’d moved into the dorms at the university, but considering the size of the closets, he’d kept almost everything at his dad’s place and thought perhaps finding an apartment with someone from the club would be better. As it was, he was a final year architecture student, so his dorm mate was a fellow senior architecture student. The first night had been a little tense, to say the least when he brought in his single suitcase and school stuff.

_-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-_

_Two days ago_

Ichigo had insisted that his sisters and dad stay put. He really didn’t want to be embarrassed by that lot. He had Uryuu go with him because he was moving into his own dorm, though to be honest, he would never stay there since he’d be with Szayel most the time. Uryuu’s father had insisted that he use the dorms since they were included in his scholarship. Uryuu had conceded and so he had put the bare minimum of stuff in his room, looked at his over the top flamboyant roommate and told him not to expect him to stay for more than a few minutes at a time. They tried to keep majors together, so since Uryuu was in fashion design, so was his roommate.

“I could not live with him,” Uryuu said, pulling Ichigo’s hanging bag down the hallway toward his dorm. “I mean, really, he may have well had a sign on his forehead reading ‘stereotypical gay’ on it. Not even Szayel at his most diva gets that bad.”

Ichigo shook his head and knocked on the door and was answered with a voice calling for him to enter on the other side. Ichigo went in and nodded to the young man who was opening his own suitcase on the cot that took up the left side of the room. At the end of each cot, there was a small desk and chair with a dresser built into the side.

Ichigo put down his case and extended a hand to the other person, a tallish boy, perhaps three or four inches taller than Ichigo without his current four inch heels, and a set of sweats that did nothing for his appearance. He had thick, black hair that was messy from his hands constantly running through it, Ichigo guessed, and dark eyes. He looked at Ichigo and a wave of discomfort went over Ichigo.

“Kurosaki Ichigo! How are you?” he said, holding his hand out for a long moment.

The other boy finally reached out and shook his hand without really looking at him and turned back to his case. “Um, yeah, Kenneth. Good ta meet you.”

Uryuu cocked and eyebrow at Ichigo and cleared his throat. “Yeah, so I just told Mr. I’m-so-gay that I’d be staying with Szayel anyway, so he could do whatever he wanted with the room.”

“You’re lucky to have a boyfriend with a huge place,” Ichigo said, pulling out his books and setting them on his desk carefully. “I would die to have his place. My gods, it is huge and he doesn’t even have two bedrooms in it!” Ichigo paused. “I hope I find someone like that. You guys are just awesome together, even if he is a pervert.”

Uryuu noted the stiffness in Kenneth’s back as they talked. “Well, anyway, cousin, dear, I’ll be going. See you at the club tonight?”

“Night off before school, Shin gave it to me so I could get settled in. I told him I didn’t need it, but the bastard insisted. Szayel on tonight?” he asked, pulling out his tablet and connecting to the wifi in the building.

“Nah, but I’m doing the outfits for the Burlesque show tonight, so I’ve got to make sure the Velcro pieces are staying put, last thing I need for my first strip tease of the night is the clothes I designed to fall off before they’re stripped off.”

With that, Uryuu left and Ichigo settled back on the bed and fiddled with his tablet before putting away the meager clothes he’d brought. Not knowing who his roommate was, he’d opted to bring the plainest clothes he had, mostly t-shirts and jeans. He tossed his clunky boots that he didn’t wear anymore into the small closet and then wrapped a couple scarves around a hanger. He’d at least accessorize a bit if he had to change here. However, he seriously doubted he’d stay for long.

Kenneth studiously avoided looking at him. Ichigo ignored him. “So,” Ichigo said finally, the dark haired boy looking over. “You just don’t like me on principle of not liking people, or do you just not like me because I’m gay?”

Kenneth stammered for a second. “I…no…it isn’t that…I’m…really I’m fine if you’re gay and stay over there and don’t like hit on me and stuff…” he said, eyes avoiding Ichigo at all costs.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. “You aren’t my type, sweetheart. First of all, I don’t hit on straight men. And second, I prefer a man with a little more to him than you. You’re a little thin for my taste.”

Ichigo hadn’t meant to be snide. But he couldn’t help it. He was already annoyed with the treatment he had been getting from people staring at him because of the makeup and jewelry he wore. This was annoying because he wasn’t even made up that much.

Kenneth stared for a minute and Ichigo sighed. “Look, sorry, just been a rough few days. Didn’t mean to be rude, but you really don’t need to worry about anything. I don’t even date these days, too busy at Las Noches and with school to even think about it. If I’m here, I will either be sleeping or studying, and that’s it.”

Ichigo cut his eyes up to see the disgusted look Kenneth gave him when he didn’t think he was looking. Great. His dorm-mate was a homophobe. Wonderful. Finding a boyfriend and moving in with him was looking better and better by the moment.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Suddenly, Ichigo’s mind was drug from his thoughts of the past couple days and he stopped and stared in a window as Yuzu caught up. "Yuzu, look at that!"

It was an adorable dress. It was a black and yellow plaid pleated skirt, mid-thigh, and the upper part was a brilliant sunset yellow. It was sleeveless and just as cute as it could be. Ichigo thought it would go with his hair very well. He grinned at Yuzu. Ichigo had found that his demure stature served him well. Some of the drag queens were broad shouldered and thick chested and necked and had trouble with clothes. Ichigo, however, had an almost willowy figure that required very little augmentation. In most cases, he could buy large or extra-large women’s clothes and wear them instead of having totally custom made clothes all the time.

"Oh, that would be perfect for the school girl skit I'm doing next week!" he said with a grin.

Yuzu smiled. "Well, let's see if they have your size!" she said, practically dragging him into the store.

The shop was small, and catered to women of all sizes from extra small to larger plus sizes. They specialized in dresses of all types, and a few shoes. Ichigo gravitated to the display of the dress and looked it over. Yuzu smiled and tucked hands behind her back and watched. She hadn’t seen her brother this happy in a long time. She’d been really little when their mother died, but she remembered his sadness. And the last three years he’d struggled greatly with finding his own identity. She and Karin had seen it clearly.

"Can I help you miss?" came a voice behind her. She turned to see a middle aged woman of short and heavy stature with curly black hair and tiny brown eyes. She wore a pantsuit and a fake grin on her overly made up face.

"Yes, I think we're interested in this dress," she said.

"What size are you dear? I'll see if I have it in stock," she said.

Yuzu smiled. "Ichi-nii, what size?"

The sales clerk, Anita her name badge said, frowned and quirked a brow as Ichigo came around the display. Ichigo's look had changed significantly, it was true. He didn't dress in women's clothes every day. He had not yet decided if he was going to become transgendered or not, mostly because he was still exploring whether being a woman all the time was what he wanted, or just dressing drag some of the time. But, his entire look had changed. He wore make-up, usually light during the day, and his hair was growing out slowly. His dress had changed to more feminine, and sometimes he wore skirts, but he didn't wear his booby bra as he called it except for shows. Damn thing was uncomfortable until he could afford to have a proper one custom made for him, though he was honestly considering the augmentation in that area.

Today, he'd gone out with his hair pinned back in barrettes to keep it from his face, and a pair of embroidered jeans that he absolutely loved. He'd worn his six inch platform heeled boots, mostly just as practice since he wore stilettos in the show, and his shirt was a simple peasant shirt with a ruffled neckline and mid forearm sleeves. He'd had his ears pierced the last week and wore a pair of dangly earrings with tiny strawberries on them.

"I don't know, every store is different," he mused, picking at the hem of the dress.

"I doubt we have your size," the clerk said dryly.

Ichigo blinked and looked up, big brown eyes already showing disappointment. Of course they wouldn’t have his size in something he really wanted. "Oh? Do you only have the smaller sizes in it?"

"I'm sure." Her voice was flat. Ichigo felt the sudden desire to leave. He was already getting used to “the look” that meant he wasn’t wanted somewhere. It was the same “look” Kenneth had given him a couple days earlier. It was a look he’d run into many times and recognized immediately.

"Oh," he said, nodding and biting his lip. "Yeah, let's go to the other store, Yuzu…"

Yuzu looked between them. "You bitch!" she announced, shocking Ichigo still. His sister had never said a curse word in her life to his knowledge.

"Yuzu!" he gasped, more surprised than anything.

"You don't want to sell to him because he's a gay guy!" she continued, the lady frowning at her. "How dare you not even bother to sell to my big brother!"

"I don't serve his kind here," she said, her expression sour. “There’s a store that caters to his sort down the street. I’m sure they’ll have plenty to suit his disgusting tastes.”

Yuzu's face went red. Ichigo had never seen her like this, Karin, sure, Karin had a temper on her to rival Ichigo’s own when he got really worked up, but Yuzu… Yuzu was the calm and collected one, the one who never let herself get out of control.

"Come on, let's just go, I'm getting used to this, it happens…" he begged, trying to look smaller, which with six inch platform heels wasn’t easy. He was wishing he’d gone with kitten heels today.

"No!" Yuzu said, pulling her hand out of Ichigo's and facing the woman. "You dare discriminate against him because he's gay? And he likes to dress in drag? You know what, you are an ignorant fool. He's my big brother, and if one of these days he decides he'd rather be my big sister, that's fine with me. I'll love him either way. He's one amazing performer, and he looks good in a dress, better than you do I bet, and you just lost the patronage of him, his entire troupe, and me and everyone in Karakura high because they're all going to know never to step foot in this shop!"

Yuzu turned on her heel and grabbed Ichigo by the hand and pulled him from the shop out into the sidewalk. Neither of them saw a woman standing at the end of the alley that took notice of them.

"Yuzu! How could you do that?" Ichigo said with a gasp.

"I'm sorry; Ichi-nii, but I can't stand people like that. She had no right to treat you like that just because of the fact you're gay and dress in drag. What business is it of hers what you wear? She sells clothes, not her bigotry. I mean, you are so pretty when you dress up! And that dress would have been perfect for you. The yellow would have looked nice with your hair. But sorry, I mean, I just…I love you and I don't want anyone to treat you badly. You've found some good people at Las Noches, and I can't wait to see you on stage tonight," she said with a small smile.

Ichigo shook his head. "Who would have thought my little sister would be defending my honor…"

Yuzu grinned. "Let's get to that store you saw on the board. They won't have any issues with your newfound flaming gayness, Ichi-nii!"

Ichigo swatted her on the shoulder. "Oi, you. Baka, I’ve always been gay, and you know it. I just never said it out loud to pop."

As they walked away the woman with long dark hair watched, a grin creeping onto her face slowly. Las Noches, that would be easy enough to go to. It was a cabaret after all. They’d only been in town a couple weeks, and she’d already heard that it was where the prettiest boys of Karakura hung out and danced. That one, too, with that loud, look at me I’m so pretty hair… Yes, just what she was looking for. He looked like he needed to learn his place. She leaned back against the brick wall and crossed her arms thoughtfully. She looked rather non-descript in a black trench and boots. She wore a white hat with a black six spoked wheel on the front. She kept watch and before long she heard the trash bin down in the alley slam closed. A moment later a thin man came up next to her.

"Done, Bambietta. Shall we leave before someone finds the remains?" he asked, running a hand through the black hair at the top of his head. His round glasses reflected the sun around him.

"Yes, yes, come, I've found our next one. Such a pretty one, too… He's performing at Las Noches tonight, I like him a lot, strong family to mourn him, close friends to worry, yes, perfect, Quilge, perfect. That last one wasn't as satisfying as I would have liked," she said as they walked down the sidewalk at a fast clip.

"Could have fooled me…there wasn't a lot left when you were done. At least I got to spend some time with him before you were done this time. I never get to have any fun, you kill them too fast," the man muttered, pulling his own black jacket tight and shoving the fedora onto his head.

Bambietta snickered. "But they scream so pretty at the end. Here, go in this store," she said, and found herself looking at a black and yellow plaid dress.

"Anita, I would like one of these, yes, let me see, what size?" she said thoughtfully and then decided on what it would be and walked out with a gift wrapped box.

Quilge looked at her. "What are you planning?"

She smiled at him. "Just a little gift for our new plaything. Do you still have that powder we used on that blonde a couple months ago?"

He thought. "Pool Shock? That pool chlorine? Yeah, what are you thinking?"

She smiled. "We take that, dust the inside of the dress and when he wears it for a little while, it will start a slow burn, especially when he starts sweating under the stage lights. And by the time he realizes what has happened, he’ll be covered with mild chemical burns. Nothing serious, but it will be a good start to show that we can get to him. Oh, this will be so much fun…”

Her eyes were lit with a glow from within that she only rarely got when they were after a truly special prey. Her partner giggled and the day had turned very bright for them.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The store was basically a dress shop for drag queens. The poster had said as much, and Ichigo wasn’t sure, but he thought that the owner might be one of the troupe. But he was in awe when they got inside. The window had been tastefully dressed like any other shop window, but inside, it was obviously a place that catered to drag queens of all kinds. The back wall was stacked with shoes from waist high down to the floor, and above that were displays of wigs in all sorts of colors and styles. There were two sections, the left side was labeled Show-wear, and the right was labeled Day-wear. The Day-wear side was pretty much everyday clothes, dresses, skirts, pants, all tailored for male bodies to wear. The Show-wear side was like the backstage of Las Noches.

“Well, if it isn’t the newbie,” came a voice from behind the counter. Ichigo looked up to see a familiar bald head.

“Ikkaku!” Ichigo said and waved to the bald man in a black t-shirt and jeans behind the counter. “Yumi here too? I didn’t know you guys ran this place.”

“Ichi!” came Yumichika’s voice from the back and then the dark haired man came bounding out of the back and hugged Ichigo, nearly lifting him off the ground. Yumichika was surprisingly strong for his slight build. He smiled. “I wondered if you’d come in! I’ve been dying to dress your sweet ass!” He was wearing jeans, though glittery red jeans, and a kimono style shirt with red and pink flowers all over it. His long hair was tied back and laying over his shoulder.

Ichigo blushed. “Ah, Yumi, this is my sister, Yuzu, one of them, anyway…”  
               Yumichika smiled. “Oh dear, aren’t you cute!” he said and grinned, brushing his long black hair over his shoulder. “But what’s with the sour face?”

Ichigo glanced at her. “You aren’t still upset are you?” he asked.

She frowned, still not over her anger at the horrid woman. “Yes I am!”

Ikkaku arched a brow. “What happened?”

Ichigo shook his head. “Oh, we stopped at another shop, and they were less than courteous…” he said waving his hand. “Nothing major.”

Yuzu frowned. “She was downright rude and said they didn’t serve ‘his kind’. I was so mad!”

Yumichika sighed. “It happens, love. Which shop?”

“Yellow Roses,” Yuzu said crossing her arms and glaring at the wall.

Ikkaku shook his head. “Not the first time we’ve heard that. She doesn’t like us even being on the same street. After we opened the Queen’s Closet, she tried to petition to make us leave. Didn’t work, but well. She’s a bitch.”

Yumichika smiled. “Forget her, come on, I have stuff you have _got_ to try on.”

Ichigo was led to the back and Yuzu sat down at a chair by the front desk with a sigh. Ikkaku smiled. “Don’t let it get to you too much. You accept him, that’s all that matters. Who cares what others think?”

“How do you do it? Put up with them?” Yuzu said softly.

Ikkaku sighed and came around and pulled a seat next to her. “Because I love Yumi, I don’t let it get to me. He’d be upset if I was upset. Yumi is a great person and I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“Have you always been with him?” Yuzu asked. “I’m sorry, tell me if I’m prying, I just…this is new to me. I don’t have any gay friends, not like Ichi-nii, and I don’t want to do anything wrong…”

Ikkaku smiled. “Yumi and I met in high school. I gained this spectacularly bald head back then when I was sixteen. Lost all my hair. Got in a fight after fight over it. Then, one day, this older kid was trying to goad me into a fight, and this pretty boy came up and slapped the guy and told him to fuck off, that there was not anything wrong with me being bald. The asshat punched him and I laid him out. And from that day forward, Yumi and I hung out. Took a while to figure out that I loved him as much as he loved me. But I’m a bit dense,” Ikkaku said, tapping his shiny bald head.

“But what should I do? I mean, what do I not say, what do I say…”

Ikkaku put a hand on her arm. “Do you love your brother?” She nodded. “Do you care if he dresses like a girl or a guy?” She shook her head. “Did you want to punch that bitch for being mean to him?” She nodded vigorously. “Then you’re doing alright.”

Yuzu smiled at him. And she realized he was right. All she had to do was be herself, and let her brother do the same.


	3. Show and Tell

Grimmjow yawned as he stepped out of the cab with Shawlong and Edrad. Di Roy was on his way, a day or two behind. He looked over the large house his sister owned. It had been a long time since he’d been to Japan, too long actually. And he forgot how small even her “large” house was. At least it was big enough that there was an actual second guest house that the guys could bunk in. He opened the gate and let the other two in and as expected, Nel was sitting in her swing reading, while Wonderweiss, the kid she’d adopted a few years ago, was snooping in the grass for creepy crawlies. He smiled and watched for a moment. Nel’s dark green hair was pulled up in a tail behind her head and she was deep into whatever book she was reading, but Grimmjow knew that should the blond teenager puttering in the dirt even breathe funny, she would be aware in a second.

Nel was a gem, to be sure. She had adopted the kid about two years ago. She specialized in working with special needs children, and in her work she had come across the abused boy. When services removed him from the home, she had been lead on his case. They came to have such a great chemistry with each other, Nel decided to officially adopt the boy. He was highly intelligent, but had been diagnosed with autism and his parents hadn’t known how to handle him. He’d been severely abused, and labeled with mental retardation. Turned out he was a victim of circumstance, and probably had a genius level IQ if one could actually test it. He just was a bit obsessed with his favorite things, and had a difficult time with anything remotely social. But Nel had been helping with that. Nel herself had been delayed developmentally due to being born with hydrocephalus. She’d grown up under constant bullying due to her speech impediment. Grimmjow and her two best friends that lived on their street had fought many fights for the young girl. These days, her speech problem was mostly gone. Sometimes, though, it showed up again, usually when she was very excited, or very angry.

“Yo, sis,” he called. She waved and finished her page. Perhaps she’d been more aware of him than he thought. No, she was watching Wonderweiss, of course she knew he was there.

“Hey there,” she said, standing and smiling when she closed the book, the red tattoos under her eyes nearly glowing in the light. “How was the flight?”

“Cramped…” Grimmjow muttered, hugging her tightly. “They don’t make those seats for big guys like me. How’s the kiddo?”

She glanced down and smiled. He was very absorbed in a group of earthworms he’d unearthed. “Doing very well, actually. We’ve had some good social steps recently. He’s got a couple friends at school these days, all very sweet to him. They come over now and then, pair of twin girls, their dad is a doctor. Sweet as they can be and they adore Wonderweiss to bits. One of them has been helping with his physical skills by tons, she’s into sports and incredibly patient. She says she’s thinking of being an occupational therapist if professional sports don’t work out.”

Grimmjow smiled. “That’s cool, how old is he now? I can’t keep up.”

Nel snickered. “He’s turning eighteen later this year, _baka_. You should be able to tell by your own age. Go on in with your boys, I’ll transition him back inside. The girls are coming by today in a while; they usually stop in on Saturdays.”

A few minutes later, Nel came into the kitchen and sat down at the bar. Wonderweiss had been reluctant to leave, but he was more than happy to go in when he heard his friends were coming over. “So, you after a big one?” Nel asked. Just then the doorbell rang, though, and she hopped up, leaving Grimmjow to pour drinks for the other two bounty hunters.

Grimmjow followed her into the room as she opened the door to a girl with short dark hair and a sports jersey for a local team. “Where’s your sister today?” Nel asked with a smile, letting her into the foyer.

“Ugh, clothes shopping with our brother. I swear, I always thought I was the boy, now that he’s dressing like a girl, I realize, I _am_ the boy,” the dark haired girl said with a shake of her head and tossing a baseball between her hands thoughtfully. “But that’s okay. Yuzu can do the shopping thing, I’ll pass on it. Ugh, shoes and crap.”

“Goodness, when did that happen?” Nel asked. “I mean, the whole, him dressing like a girl thing? Just a one off?”               

“Oh, no, Ichi quit hiding the fact that he’s a flaming diva. I mean, sheesh, I’ve known since I was like five that he wasn’t like the other boys. I actually caught him when he was like ten trying to put on a skirt that we’d had given to us for Yuzu that was too big, but it was too small for him. So you know. Whatever he wants to do. He doesn’t pick on me for dressing like this, so whatever. As long as he doesn’t take me shopping. But, anyhow, we’re actually going to watch him on stage tonight in full drag at the club he’s working at.”

Nel realized she was ignoring her brother who was standing behind her. She hated that the bastard was so damn quiet. “Oh, hey, Karin Kurosaki, this is my older brother, Grimmjow Jagerjaquez. He, however, does not wear girls’ clothes like your older brother.”

Karin looked him over and nodded. “Yeah, can tell that, what’s up, blue boy?”

Grimmjow nodded. “Nothing much, just got into town. You said your brother performs in a drag show?”

Karin nodded. “Yeah, Las Noches. He’s part of a drag troupe, but they have a burlesque show too. The club is a cabaret or whatever that means. Anyway, I’m gonna go find Wonderweiss. I promised we’d work on tossing the baseball around today!”

Grimmjow looked up and nodded as Shawlong and Edrad came in. “Got a place to start. Drag show, prime targets for our targets.”

Nel looked between the three of them. “It’s _them_ isn’t it?”

Grimmjow nodded. “Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

Just then, Grimmjow’s phone buzzed and he frowned as he read the message. “Dammit. They dumped a body today, that means they’ll be scouting for the next vic. Nel, are there any other places that would be hangouts for young, attractive men? Especially those that like to cross-dress?”

Nel frowned. “Well, there’s Las Noches, that’s the big one for gay and straight boys both, then there’s a gay bar down a little further, and I think there’s a mixed strip club a few streets over…quite a few, actually.”

Grimmjow nodded and led the group back to the kitchen and pulled out a clipboard from his laptop bag and started making notes. It looked like the case was going to take off a lot faster than he anticipated. They always picked up a new victim within a week of their body drops, and they had approximately three weeks before they actually kidnapped the victim for the physical torture, assuming they stuck to their MO. Before then, there would be the distance torture and gaslighting.

Grimmjow thought for a moment as he looked down at what he’d written. “Okay, Shawlong, take the bar, Edrad, find the strip club. I’ll hit this cabaret. I thought four would be enough, but we’ve still got less people than can canvas. We know they pick their next victim within days of dropping the body of the last. So we’ve got very little time to waste. They’ve got a habit of choosing them when they’re in public. We’ve had victims picked from club scenes, strip shows, dances, and all of them are young, attractive males, almost exclusively those that do some sort of cross-dressing. And remember, there will be something odd about them, one thing that makes them stand out from everyone else. Look for that.”

Shawlong nodded, running a hand over his dark hair. “Hey boss, I’ll see if I can’t get in to the scene photos of the body drop. And then I’ll see if I can sweet talk the person at the morgue into letting me look at the remains. I know you aren’t keen on looking them over.”

Grimmjow nodded. “Sounds good, let’s catch these bastards. I’m tired of chasing ghosts. We’ve never been in the same town they were when they picked their victim, so we’re doing much better this time than ever before. We only have gotten onto their trail after the kidnappings for the most part. Edrad, you want to start canvasing the malls and shopping centers? See if you can get anyone matching their descriptions. I doubt it will help; they’ve never been easy to catch. Canvas the area around the dump site and question anyone in a business in the area. See if anyone has security footage from today they’re willing to share. I’m going to contact the local police and inform them that we’re in town and hope they aren’t dicks.”

Before long, the other two were gone, and Nel and Grimmjow were sitting alone in her kitchen with steaming cups of jasmine tea. Grimmjow had contacted the local authorities and found them surprisingly willing to accept his help when he explained the situation, some guy named Barragan was lead up on the case, and had already figured out just who had come to Japan. Grimmjow was rubbing his head.

“I’ve got to get them, Nel. I just have to. This has to end, and they should know why it has to end for me so badly. I’m sure Edrad knows there’s more to it than just me wanting the money. I spend more money chasing them than I could ever make off of them, and they all know it.”

Nel patted her older brother’s hand gently. “I know, Grimmy, I know. He’d be proud, you know.”

Grimmjow smiled and looked up at her. “Yeah, but he’d be prouder if I found these bastards that killed him,” he said softly.

“It’s been five years, Grimmy. Please say you’ve moved on at least,” she said, squeezing his hand. “Please tell me you aren’t forcing yourself to be lonely.”

Grimmjow smiled at her. “I’ve dated a few times, sis, don’t worry. Just, chasing these bastards all over the world doesn’t make for a good relationship, you know. Last girl I dated blew a gasket when I told her what I did. And the guy before her was so enthused with my job that he nearly got himself killed when he followed me into the field after a bounty.”

Five years. Five years since the boy he loved had been found mutilated beyond recognition after weeks of torment by stalkers that no one could find. They’d been kids, barely eighteen, but it’s never easy when that first love is ripped away violently by a pair of sadistic serial killers. Granted, Grimmjow didn’t know a lot of people that he shared that particular experience with. Five years since he’d been following their trail from that point, their first kill in Germany just outside Berlin in Bernau where he’d grown up with Nel. Only Nel knew why, though. None of his boys knew why. They knew he was obsessed with them, they knew that he wanted them caught, but they had no idea how personal it was. No, this was more than a bounty. This was justice, and if he ever actually got near them, this was going to be revenge.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo was far more nervous than he’d ever been before. He’d been on stage alright, but this time, Karin, Yuzu, and his dad were out there. And he was about ready to die, he thought. Uryuu was primping him at the moment, and he couldn’t stay still.

“Ouch!” he said as he was poked with a pin.

“Stay still,” Uryuu said with a sigh as he stitched a spot where the hem had come loose.

“I’m sorry, I’m nervous!” Ichigo said, crossing his arms and trying desperately not to tap his feet.

“You look amazing, and you are in my favorite outfit tonight. Now, remember, the first number is a fashion show, this is entirely for me, remember, so don’t screw up, please. My dad brought a fashion designer with him, and if he likes what he sees, I may have a shot at getting some real _paying_ work, got it?” Uryuu said with a sigh.

“I know, I know!” Ichigo said with a sigh.

Uryuu stood back and nodded. To be honest, Ichigo was so well suited to dressing in drag, it was annoying. He looked phenomenal. He was wearing a knee length pinstripe skirt with a matching jacket that Uryuu had tailored specially for him. He wore a sleeveless black crop top underneath the jacket that left his stomach open and showed off the fact he had a toned set of abs. The jacket was modeled after a suit jacket, but it was modified a bit. A pair of tails came down from the waist in the back, with an ornate silver button at the small of the back. The front of the jacket was cut up at an angle, leaving it to end at the bottom of the top. The buttons were silver.

“Spin,” he said and Ichigo obeyed, turning on the spot. “Good, now go find your stockings and shoes, and head off to makeup!”

                Ichigo nodded and padded off to do just that. Uryuu sighed. “Szayel, you’re next!”

“Ichi-kun!” came a voice that never failed to make Ichigo smile.

Charlotte Chuhlhourne was the oldest drag queen in the place; actually she was transgender, not just a stage drag queen. She took care of all of them. She came up and hugged Ichigo.

“Darling, look how beautiful you are!” she said, flipping her long purple curls over her shoulder.

Charlotte, though, was built like a male body builder. She stood flat footed at over six foot three, and probably weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds, and all muscle. She didn’t wear falsies, and she didn’t try and mask the fact that she had a male physique. In fact, she showed it off every chance she had. She actually didn’t perform anymore, there had been an accident several years ago and hurt her back pretty badly, and now couldn’t wear heels at all. That alone wouldn’t keep her off the stage, but she also found that standing too much aggravated it, so she gave up the stage in favor of becoming the backstage mom for all the younger drag queens. Tonight she was wearing a long kimono and flat sandals.

“Charlotte, how are you?” Ichigo asked with a smile.

“Good, darling, good. I swear, Uryuu-chan gets better and better with these designs…” she said shaking her head. “He’s going to make something of himself. Aren’t you in school too, darling?”

Ichigo nodded as they headed to makeup and he sat down and let Charlotte go to work. Charlotte was perhaps the single best stage makeup artist the club had. Yumichika was good too, but Charlotte had a level of artistry that could simply not be beaten by anyone.

“Yeah, I’m going for architecture design, but I wish I could live somewhere else,” he said with a sigh.

“No, darling, don’t frown, you mustn’t do that, you’ll get ugly frown lines!” Charlotte said, brushing on the eye shadow. “Why do you want to live elsewhere?”

“Oh, my roommate is a homophobic dick. Doesn’t say anything, but he gives me that look now and then, and he avoids talking to me like the plague. Luckily, I usually get home after he’s asleep and when I wake up he’s gone. Still…bothers me….” Ichigo blinked rapidly after she put the lashes on him. That had taken some getting used to. He had good natural lashes, but they weren’t stage lashes like these. These were heavy and studded with tiny gems.

“Darling, don’t let it get to you,” she said, turning him around and looking into the lighted mirror above his head. “Trust me, the people you need will show up. You, my darling are so beautiful inside and out, and those ugly inside will never taint your beauty.”

Ichigo smiled at the mirror. “Yeah, thanks Charlotte. I know you’re right, just I’m still getting used to it.”

Charlotte nodded. “Darling, just be yourself. If anyone doesn’t like it, tell them to come see me. I’ll give them a lesson in dealing with drag queens.”

Ichigo stood up and kissed Charlotte’s cheek. “You always make me feel better, gotta go get my shoes now, though, see you later!”

He was running down to the change rooms and ran right into two people openly making out in the middle of the hallway. He looked up and saw that it was Findorr, one of the blonde drag queens he’d met a couple times but didn’t know too well, and his fiancée Emilou Apacci, one of the security team for Las Noches, who sometimes dressed as one of the drag kings on stage.

“Oh, gosh, sorry, Ichi, honey,” Findorr said, reaching down and helping him back up.

“Nah, my fault, my head was elsewhere,” he said sheepishly.

“What’s going on, love?” Emilou asked with a frown.

Ichigo shrugged. “Oh, my dad and my sisters are going to watch today. A bit nervous, he’s never seen me in full drag,” he said, fiddling with the hem of the jacket.

“Oh dear, don’t fret,” Findorr said with a smile. “Just relax. He’s here for you, and that’s what matters,” he said, running a hand through his long blond hair. He looked at Emilou.

“Gotta get dressed, Charlotte will be on my ass if I don’t get to the makeup chair soon,” he said and kissed Apacci gently.

“Break a leg,” Emilou said with a smile and then smiled at Ichigo and wished him luck as well.

Ichigo was still nervous. He couldn’t believe his sisters and dad would see him for the first time. Of course, the fashion show was the first skit of the night, then he’d go on with Arisawa to do a skit where she was playing the man who rescued him from his depression after being dumped by an inconsiderate boyfriend. It would be fun, no doubt.

He got back to the dressing room to find out where his shoes had gone. He swore he’d taken them to the front with him, but now they were gone… He shook his head as he saw them sitting where he had no doubt left them on the bench, and beside his heels, he found a box. It was wrapped like a gift. He smiled and wondered who it was for. He lifted the tag and to his surprise found it was labeled with his name. He lifted the card.

“Ichigo, in apology.”

He opened the box and found the dress he’d been looking at earlier that day, the black and yellow plaid one. He looked up as Hiyori came in.

“Oh, someone loves you,” she teased and came and looked at the dress. Although, Ichigo got the impression Hiyori would rather be caught dead than in a dress.

“Yeah, I guess, no signature, though. But it says in apology. I wonder if it was the shopkeeper. She was rude and refused to sell it to me because I was a guy…maybe she decided to feel bad about it?” he said, frowning and looking at the pigtailed woman.

Hiyori was short, like five foot even, but she was by far the scariest security person on staff. She had a temper to rival hell’s own fury, and so far, she was the only one that Kenpachi actively avoided when she was on the warpath.

“Maybe, but shake that skirted tail, show’s starting in a minute,” Hiyori said with a shrug.

Ichigo grinned and put the box down and covered it again and grabbed his shoes. After he was gone, Hiyori paused a moment and looked at the box, wondering who had delivered it. She’d have to ask Kenpachi. Those who came and went in the back were strictly controlled and no one without security was allowed back there. Someone had to have delivered it up front, and one of the performers or staff had to have brought it back seeing it was for one of the drag troupe. She frowned a bit and tapped the top. It smelled strange, like it had been spritzed with perfume. She shook her head, and adjusted her blonde pig tails and went back out. A puzzle for later, no doubt, she thought for herself. After all, what harm could a dress do?

The fashion show went off without a hitch, at least, from what Ichigo could tell. Of course, with the way the lights hit the stage, he really couldn’t see much when he went out. He hoped his dad thought he did a good job…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Obviously, he had chosen the most popular spot to show up at, Grimmjow thought as he stood waiting in line. At first he was annoyed at the people passing, but then he realized they were family of the performers, so he guessed that was okay. He was surprised when he felt someone punch him and a voice he recognized spoke beside him.

“Hey blueberry,” said the girl he’d met earlier that day.

He glanced at her and smiled. “Karin, right?”

“Yup, good memory, you going in to watch? Come on, you can come with us,” she said, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him along. Damn, the kid was as pushy as his own little sister.

Grimmjow started to protest, but he didn’t have time as he was pulled into the lavishly decorated place. He gaped a bit at the sight as he was drug to a table near the front with the name Kurosaki on a place-tag. It had four chairs, one already occupied by a man with short dark hair that looked a little uncomfortable. He was turned around talking to a man with white hair that sat at the next table.

“Oi, goatface,” Karin said, and Grimmjow quirked a brow.

“Yes, my darling daughter?” the man said, turning around.

“This is my friend Grimmjow Jagerjaquez, told him he could sit with us. He’s Nel’s older brother, met him over there today when I went to see Wonderweiss,” she said, flopping into her seat beside another girl her age with long brownish hair.

“Isshin Kurosaki, pleasure to meet you. My girls talk about your sister all the time! Amazing work she does with the special needs kids,” he said, reaching over and shaking Grimmjow’s hand in a firm grip.

“I’m Yuzu, the girly sister,” the other girl said, reaching to shake his hand too.

“Well, someone has to be a boy in this family,” Karin said, crossing her arms. “Sure isn’t Ichigo!”

“Hush, now, Karin,” Yuzu said with a frown. “I already jumped all over someone today for being mean to Ichi-nii, don’t you start!”

“You jumped on someone?” Karin said, her face betraying her shock. “Like, more than just sighing at them?” Even Isshin looked surprised.

“She wouldn’t sell to Ichi-nii because he was gay. And I told her off.”

Isshin nodded. “That’s my girl! Defend your precious brother!”

“Hey, you’re Ichi’s sis, aren’t you?” said a voice familiar to Yuzu. She turned and saw the bald Ikkaku.

“Oh, dad, this is Ikkaku, his husband is on stage with Ichi-nii tonight!” Yuzu said. Ikkaku pulled a chair up beside them and nodded.

“Shh, the show’s starting!” Karin said as the lights dimmed, and the full beauty of the room was finally revealed. There were oohs and aahs as always.

Uryuu came out on stage first. He wore a suit and tie and looked quite nice. “Welcome to Las Noches, my name is Uryuu Ishida, and I am the designer for Dangai, and I do some work for Kirikaze and the Hainekos as well. Tonight, we have a special skit, a fashion show of some of our best divas and our best clothes for you to enjoy. Don’t worry, Shinji will come curse at you after my portion is done!”

Applause rang out and Uryuu stood to the side. The spotlight went to the left as the first performer strutted out, Findorr. He was wearing a silver and black evening dress, the front split unevenly up almost to the top of his thighs. The top was off the shoulders, with the sleeves cascading down almost to the floor in silvery falls. The shoes were tall stiletto heels that looked impossible to walk in. He had his long blond hair styled and down.

“Findorr!” Uryuu announced.

Chiruzu, one of the faux queens, went out next in a plaid schoolgirl skirt and a ruffled shirt. Yumichika followed, wearing an exquisite looking dress that looked like it was painted onto his body in splashes of black, white, and peach. Szayel’s outfit was perfect for him, a flirty skirt that resembled a tutu and a corset style top that showed off his fantastic arms by leaving them bare. Luppi was next, using his short stature to his advantage, he looked like a perfect lolli wearing a child-like outfit that looked like a gymnastics outfit with a longer skirt and skipping out onto the stage. Izuru always looked so unsure of himself, but Uryuu used that fact and dressed him in a conservative looking outfit that made him look like a school marm. Then Uryuu smiled at Karin’s table.

“And my newest model, Ichigo!”

Ichigo came out and made his turn and Isshin could not believe it was his son. He stared, mouth slightly agape. If it hadn’t been for the blindingly orange hair, he would have never realized it was him. Even with his hair longer and pulled away from his face and styled, it was undeniably his son’s head of hair. The way he moved, the look, it was all completely different than he was used to seeing on his son…

“Damn,” Karin said. “I’m stunned. My brother makes a hotter chick than most the girls I go to school with.”

Yuzu playfully slapped her sister. “Watch the show!”

There were several more that came out, but the Kurosaki table was not really paying attention to them. And Grimmjow’s focus had been grabbed entirely by the bright orange hair. Out of all the young men that came across the stage, Ichigo was the one with the most distinguishing feature. Sure, the one had pink hair, but he obviously dyed his hair. He hoped he was wrong about that, though, and kept an eye out for anyone else that stood out like that.

Before long, Uryuu stepped back and was replaced by the leader of the drag troupe, Shinji Hirako. Shinji was wearing a bright red leather miniskirt and a black peasant blouse.

“Good evening, Las Noches!” he called. “How the fuck are you?”

There was laughter all around. “Now, on with my show, dammit! Got it stolen but now I got it back. First up, the lovely Ichigo and Arisawa, in their skit, Lost Love!”

Ichigo came out in a different outfit, wandering across the stage slowly. He was wearing a long tiered skirt and a plain peasant style shirt similar to the one Shinji had been wearing. He looked up toward the fake moon. Arisawa came out behind him, dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a plaid shirt. She was donning a bushy beard. The skit was funny, and went for a little while, and then they went back stage. A few more skits were done, and a couple lip syncs, and one actual voice performance by the incredibly talented Illfordt, Szayel’s brother.

Backstage before the last act where they all went out and bowed, Ichigo was debating the dress he’d found. Szayel found him staring into the box with the dress and leaned over. “What’s that?”

“I found it, someone delivered it. I was thinking of wearing it out on the last act, I mean, it’s in a dry cleaning bag so it should be clean, right?” he said.

Szayel grinned and nodded excitedly. “Sure, let’s put you in it!”

Szayel grabbed him by the hand and took him into the large change room and proceeded to strip him. Ichigo went bright red when he realized what he was doing. He stammered a minute and attempted to get him to stop, but Szayel was all hands and before he knew it, he was nearly naked as Szayel shook out the new dress. He looked up at the blushing Ichigo.

“Honey, really? Are you _that_ shy?” Szayel said with a wicked grin that lit his golden eyes up.

Ichigo sighed. “I’ve, you know, never changed in front of people,” he said, hands over his underpants.

Before he took another breath, Szayel had him pressed against the back of the change room and was enthusiastically nipping at his neck. Ichigo gasped out loud.

“Szayel! What…what are you doing?” he asked as Szayel’s tongue trailed down his throat and flicked at the hollow between his collar bones.

Szayel hummed. “Trying to get you to let me fuck you, silly boy,” Szayel said, and slipped one hand down the front of Ichigo’s panty. He squeaked and gripped Szayel’s shoulders tightly as Szayel’s soft hand wrapped around his rapidly hardening cock.

“B-but…Uryuu…he…” Ichigo stammered, but all the blood had left his brain, to be honest.

Szayel licked a thick stripe over Ichigo’s Adam’s apple. “Uryuu would join us if I asked nice enough. Besides, you aren’t _really_ cousins just because your mother and his father were distantly related. They came from the same clan, he said. So you know, you can fuck and it’s not incest.”

Ichigo’s eyes went wide and he pushed back on Szayel and shook his head. “No, no, please, I’m not…not ready for this, okay?”

Szayel leaned back and looked down at his flushed face and paused in his teasing of his arousal. “Wait, you’ve never done this?”

Ichigo shook his head and thought he could not possibly blush any darker. Szayel sighed and removed his hand and kissed him on the cheek. “Okay, sweets. Okay, I understand. But you are so on my mind, honey. Go ahead and get dressed, you only have about twenty minutes before the last act goes on. I’d take care of that before you try to go on stage, though, honey.”

Szayel patted his shoulder and left, pausing to wink at him through the door. The door shut and locked and Ichigo slid down the wall to the seat and panted. That was intense and now he had a raging hard on. He swallowed, looking down at the distinct hard bulge in the tight panty that was supposed to disguise his man bits. He frowned. Fucking Szayel, he thought to himself as he reached his hand into his panty and pulled himself out. He groaned at the feeling of finally releasing his straining cock from the tight confines. He heaved a breath and began stroking himself but he wondered…

He pulled off the panty the rest of the way and shifted so he could feel his entrance with his other hand. He winced at the jolt that shot through him just from touching it. How many times had he jerked off to watching two guys fuck each other? He’d seen it enough times, he thought as he sucked his fingers into his mouth thoughtfully. Would it feel nice? Like in all those pornos? They seemed to like it… He’d watched the solo ones, where the guy did this to himself, so he did know what he was supposed to do but he’d never done it before. He paused in stroking himself and moved and pushed his middle finger against the opening and had to bite down on a low moan that threatened to escape. Okay, so that felt a lot better than he thought it would. He dropped his head back against the wall and stroked himself while he pushed his finger inside him as far as he could and swore he saw stars. Before he even moved his hand again he came all over his hand. He panted and grabbed his shirt clean up the mess.

He bit his lip and winced. He’d just jerked off in the fucking change room where he worked. That was gross, but somehow, hot… He quickly got dressed and walked out, balling his other outfit up and shoving it into his duffle back. He didn’t notice Szayel around the corner with a very self-satisfied grin on his face. He rushed off onto the stage because the last call was coming up.

The lights were bright, and Ichigo still couldn’t see very well, but he thought he caught the shape of his sisters. He sighed as he started to sweat under the heat of the lights as various members of the troupe stepped forward to thank their friends and family that had come to see them perform. For some reason, Ichigo felt itchy. Maybe he should have had the dress cleaned after all… Well, it was almost to him, and then he could go take the blasted thing off and wash it. Obviously, he was somewhat allergic to something used at the cleaners. He was new to wearing dry cleaned clothes, so he really didn’t know what was supposed to happen when one had a sensitivity to some of the chemicals in the cleaner. But as more time passed, under the lamps, he began to get more uncomfortable. Luppi was standing beside him and elbowed him.

“What’s up?” he said softly as Szayel talked about Uryuu and his fashion talent.

“Don’t know, I’m…itchy…” he said, shifting his shoulders and then realized that his shoulders were starting to burn. That was weird. But still, it could just be the chemical in the dry cleaning. That had to be it. What else could it be?

Luppi hid a smile. Ichi was itchy. “New clothes? Maybe something in it?” Luppi said.

Ichigo nodded and shook his head. He’d started to wobble on his feet, and his brain seemed to be skipping time because now the person beside him was speaking, who was it again? He blinked at the bright lights that seemed to be moving. Well that was weird, wasn’t it? He might have realized something was really wrong if he was able to think straight. He didn’t seem to notice that his chest and back weren’t just itching but were burning, and the more he sweat, the worse it got, trailing down his sides and around his neck. His head was floaty feeling though, and it was somewhat nice, that odd feeling.

“Ichigo?” he heard and he blinked and realized Shinji was in front of him with the mic. He frowned and looked at it for a second. Shinji snapped his fingers in front of him and Ichigo tried to focus on them but they kept moving…

At first Shinji thought Ichigo was stage struck. With his family present, surely that was all that was wrong. But when he stared instead of responding to his name, he’d walked down to see what was going on with his newest diva. Ichigo, if nothing else, had never experienced a lick of stage fright, and had good stage presence, so to have him freeze was strange. When he got there he spoke and Ichigo seemed to look past him. When he couldn’t focus, Shinji decided something had to be wrong. And then he realized his lips were turning blue, just barely discernable under the lipstick he was wearing, but he could see at the edges of his lips. He was breathing far too fast and Shinji saw his skin was far too red where it peeked out from under the edges of his clothes. What in the hell was going on?

“Ah fuck!” Shinji exclaimed, dropping the mic just as he collapsed forward.

Luppi yelped, and jumped out of the way as Shinji caught him easily enough. Everyone else started to come forward, but a very large Kenpachi scattered them to the back. Shinji looked up at Kenpachi.

“He’s in shock…” Shinji breathed and looked around. His father, his father was a doctor. “Doctor Kurosaki, Keni, go get Ichigo’s father, quickly…what…Luppi!”

Luppi came and dropped. “Did he say anything?”

“He said he was itchy, and I asked him if it was a new outfit and he said yes, then he kinda spaced out…” Luppi said frowning at him just as the dark haired doctor was being led onto the stage from the floor.

“Oh no…what…” he said, dropping down to feel his son’s pulse. Behind him, his two sisters were coming up on stage with a blue haired bloke and Ikkaku, who Yumichika ran and stood by, eyes wide.

“He’s in shock, but from what…” the doctor muttered, and then saw the redness around his neck. He reached and pulled the collar down.

“These are chemical burns,” he said softly, then began to rip open the front of the dress.

“Fuck!” Shinji said, eyes widening. “Yumi, go turn on the shower in the back, quickly!”

Isshin ripped the dress open and the smell of chlorine wafted upward immediately. His brain tried to explain why but he was more concerned with the red burns that were covering his son’s torso. Everywhere the dress had touched bare skin was bright red and some spots were blistering already. He pulled him upward and shoved the rest of it off and found his back in worse state especially along his shoulder blades. Shinji snapped open the bra and the rig fell off as they shucked the rest of the dress off.

“It’s on his legs a bit,” Shinji noted. Ichigo hadn’t been wearing stockings, but just socks with a pair of Mary Jane shoes. “I’ve got a shower in the back, come on, Kenny!”

Kenpachi nodded and picked up the nearly nude boy, and headed to the back with Shinji and Isshin hot on his heels. Isshin stripped off his own shirt and shoes and Shinji was also down to his underpants in a moment and both stepped into the pouring water, holding him up and stripping the rest of his clothes off quickly. The water seemed to wake Ichigo back up and he gasped and started to fight them.

“Ichigo!” Isshin said, holding onto his arms. He really didn’t need anything broken, and he knew all too well how capable of that his son was. “Be still, please, you’re covered in chlorine for some reason, but we have to get it off to stop it from burning you, you’ve already got some second degree burns from it son, maybe worse, I can’t tell yet…it’s just me and Shinji.”

Ichigo focused on his dad and nodded. “It burns, pop…”

“Yeah, I know, come on, we’ll figure it out in a minute, right now we got to flush your skin, okay? You’re a bit shocky, so we have to be careful here, okay?”

A voice outside spoke that Isshin or Shinji didn’t know. “Medics are on the way. Should be here in less than ten.”

Ichigo realized he couldn’t stand on his own so he just let his dad hold him up while Shinji directed the sprayer over his upper back and the front of his shoulders. Where the bra camisole had been, he’d been somewhat protected, but even through the thin material he’d gotten some redness against his stomach and lower back. Shinji turned off the spray and grabbed a robe from outside and wrapped him up in it quickly just as the paramedics came through the back, led by a worried looking Yumichika.

Once he was gone with his sisters and dad, Shinji stood and stared blankly at the door, dripping wet until someone put a robe around him. He looked up to see Ikkaku and the blue haired man. Yumichika came up and wrapped arm around him.

“What…what the flying fuck just happened?” Shinji asked finally.


End file.
